All That Glitters
by BakuBakuRemix
Summary: Happy birthday, Ryou.  Well, a little early.  Rated for safety.


Sunlight glinted gold off the dangling pendant, pointed spires clinking together in the silence of the room as it swung slightly in the pale fingered grasp. Ryou let out an almost wistful sigh as he stared up at it, splayed carelessly over the bedcovers with the ancient necklace held above his head.

It twinkled innocently, devoid of any form of power now, full of nothing but memories; and not even that really, it wasn't as though he could remember much of anything. He tightened his hold on the thick strap and let his arm fall to his side so that the metal object let out a loud clank as it hit the floor. Nothing more than a useless trinket now.

'_Ten years_..' Ryou thought to himself blandly, tilting his head to one side on the pillow to look sightlessly out the window. Ten years to the day - well, a little more, the day was just about over now. The sunset stained the clouds orange and filled the tiny apartment with a soothing red glow.

It looked like blood.

"What are you being so pissy about _now_, boy?"

There was no point in turning around, he could almost see his other half leaning against the doorframe as though he owned the place - he might as well - and sneering down at him with that look he always wore around him. Disgust.

Ryou would love to say he shared the emotion, to have nothing but contempt for the cruel, violent, foul-mouthed, thief that had even gone so far as to steal his very name. He would love to be able to declare his vehement hatred for the spirit who had seeped into every corner of his life and destroyed it from the inside out.

He would love to. But he was far too tired for that. Bakura... wasn't worth the energy for hate. He sighed again, not bothering to respond or even look at him.

Footsteps carried across the floor and Ryou felt a tug at his hand as Bakura stooped to grab the ancient ring and yank it from his fingertips. He heard it rattling about in the spirit's hands, could picture him examining it lazily as he turned it over. "I didn't know you'd kept this," he said.

"Mm," Ryou replied thoughtlessly.

A merciless laugh, almost like a cackle, rang off the walls of the room. "You must be more fucked up than I thought, to hold onto this." More tinkling, presumably as Bakura waved the artifact around.

Ryou finally turned to look at him. "No more so than you."

He wasn't the least bit surprised when Bakura dashed him fiercely across the cheek with the back of his hand, adding to the mottling of both aged and recent bruises already covering his face in a rainbow of color.

Arms lowered themselves to either side of him, the bed springs creaking slightly as Bakura forced his weight onto it and leaned menacingly over Ryou, who merely turned his head again to stare back. "Watch your mouth," Bakura hissed dangerously.

There was a pregnant pause while Bakura likely awaited the inevitable apology. It was nothing new for them, every time he would defy the thief he'd be paid back in spades, always ending with him taking back his words and begging to be forgiven.

This time, Ryou just watched him, nothing in his eyes. Then suddenly, "I'm eighteen today."

A derisive snort from Bakura. "So?" Ryou expected nothing less, it wasn't in his nature to care about anything, let alone something as trivial as a birthday.

"I got the ring-" You. "-ten years ago."

Bakura grinned. It was nothing short of horrific, lips curled in a feral grimace of a smile and glowering brows shadowing his sunset soaked face.

Ryou let out an involuntary grunt of pain as the weighty pendant caught him in the temple, Bakura having flung it in his ire. "I don't care," he spat, while Ryou's vision spun, a trickle of blood snaking down the side of his face where the ring had nicked him.

There was nothing he could say say to that. He simply lay there.

The ring had fallen to the floor again, and Bakura had his eyes on it distractedly. "Pathetic," he muttered as he picked it back up, seemingly talking to himself since he did not elaborate.

Several moments passed in silence. "Can I have it back then?" Ryou chanced after awhile, holding out his hand expectantly to take it from him.

"Why?" A thief's nature, Ryou supposed, as Bakura held tight to it simply because Ryou wanted it.

Ryou thought, perhaps there was something different in his eyes today, because Bakura looked almost pensive as their gazes locked. Perhaps he could tell what he was thinking, even though their link had been closed for over a year now, since Bakura had become flesh.

"Why?" Bakura repeated, a great deal calmer. There was earnest curiosity in his voice, a child that must know and question everything. Ryou could see his mind working; how can he want it anywhere near him, he should despise the item, not covet it.

Ryou found it almost amusing how easy to read his other half was sometimes, even with their connection severed. Of course he never could figure out what he was thinking when it mattered. "I made a wish," he answered vaguely, looking up at the priceless artifact in the spirit's hands.

"A _wish_?" Bakura repeated contemptuously, looking almost revoltedly down at the pendant now.

"I wished.." Ryou said slowly, and for a moment some of the hope he'd had long ago returned to his eyes. "I wished I wouldn't be alone."

"You shouldn't make wishes on evil objects," Bakura chuckled, a laugh that didn't reach his narrow eyes. "It didn't give you friends, it gave you _me_."

"Well." Ryou continued to watch him. "I'm not alone anymore."

Silence again. "There is that," the thief said eventually, expression unreadable as he looked down at the gilded item.

At length he held it out for Ryou to take, and he did, wrapping his fingers around the edge possessively as he brought it back to his chest. "Thank you." For what exactly?

"Mm."


End file.
